Reinterpreting the Member Checking Validation Strategy in Qualitative Research Through the Hermeneutics Lens
Abstract views: 234
/ 
PDF downloads: 174
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59455/qietp.19Keywords:
qualitative research, hermeneutics, member-checkingAbstract
This review proposes that exploring hermeneutics could reveal significant potential for reassessing the essence and structure of qualitative research, particularly in refining validation methods like memberchecking. This inquiry suggests that embracing a hermeneutic perspective might provide fresh insights into how we understand and validate qualitative data, potentially enhancing our comprehension and improving the robustness of research practices in this field. The review is divided into multiple sections and subsections to build the argument that the hermeneutic viewpoint offers greater explanatory and exploratory potential for guiding specific validation strategies, such as member-checking, in qualitative research. This review’s main argument begins with an overview detailing which aspects and how-aspects of qualitative research and its validation strategies. Subsequently, this review delves into the member-checking strategy as a central validation approach in high-quality qualitative research. The review then introduces hermeneutics within the qualitative research paradigm. Moreover, the present review explores how hermeneutics can serve as a tool for thinking in research endeavors. Finally, the current review integrates the focus on memberchecking with the perspective of hermeneutics to achieve a broader and more holistic understanding. Concluding remarks and research-based implications are offered for the use of future qualitative researchers.
References
Alsaigh, R., & Coyne, I. (2021). Doing a hermeneutic phenomenology research underpinned by Gadamer’s philosophy: A framework to facilitate data analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 20, 16094069211047820. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069211047820
Amin, M. E. K., Nørgaard, L. S., Cavaco, A. M., Witry, M. J., Hillman, L., Cernasev, A., & Desselle, S. P. (2020). Establishing trustworthiness and authenticity in qualitative pharmacy research. Research in social and administrative pharmacy, 16(10), 1472-1482. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2020.02.005
Anderson, J. A. (2014). Thinking qualitatively: Hermeneutics in science. In An integrated approach to communication theory and research (pp. 54-72). Routledge.
Borim-de-Souza, R., Travis, E. F., Munck, L., & Galleli, B. (2020). An objective hermeneutic approach to qualitative validation. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, 15(4), 523-541. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/QROM-08-2019-1806
Birt, L., Scott, S., Cavers, D., Campbell, C., & Walter, F. (2016). Member checking: a tool to enhance trustworthiness or merely a nod to validation? Qualitative health research, 26(13), 1802-1811. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732316654870
Bradshaw, M. (2001). Contracts and member checks in qualitative research in human geography: reason for caution? Area, 33(2), 202-211. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4762.00023
Brogan, W. (2020). Basic concepts of hermeneutics: gadamer on tradition and community. Duquesne Studies in Phenomenology, 1(1), 1-13.
Buchbinder, E. (2011). Beyond checking: Experiences of the validation interview. Qualitative Social Work, 10(1), 106-122. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325010370189
Bygstad, B., & Munkvold, B. E. (2007, January). The significance of member validation in qualitative analysis: Experiences from a longitudinal case study. In 2007 40th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS’07) (pp. 243b-243b). IEEE. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2007.553
Carlson, J. A. (2010). Avoiding traps in member checking. Qualitative Report, 15(5), 1102-1113.
Creswell, J. W., & Miller, D. L. (2000). Determining Validity in Qualitative Inquiry. Theory Into Practice, 39(3), 124-130. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip3903_2
Creswell, J. W. (2005). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches. Sage.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2017). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Crowther, S., Ironside, P., Spence, D., & Smythe, L. (2017). Crafting stories in hermeneutic phenomenology research: A methodological device. Qualitative health research, 27(6), 826-835. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732316656161
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2011). The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research. Sage
DeCino, D. A., & Waalkes, P. L. (2019). Aligning epistemology with member checks. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 42(4), 374-384. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1743727X.2018.1492535
Doyle, S. (2007). Member checking with older women: A framework for negotiating meaning. Health care for women international, 28(10), 888-908. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07399330701615325
Gadamer H. G. (2004). Truth and method (Weinsheimer J. & Marhshall D. G., Trans.). London, UK: Continuum. (Original work published 1960).
Gadamer H. G. (2007). The Gadamer reader: A bouquet of the later writings (Palmer R. E., Ed.). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Gadamer H. G. (1996). The enigma of health (Gaiger J. & Walker N., Trans.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
George, T. (2021). Hermeneutics. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/hermeneutics/.
Gillo, M. D. (2021). Fundamentals of hermeneutics as a qualitative research theoretical framework. European Journal of Education and Pedagogy, 2(3), 42-45. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24018/ejedu.2021.2.3.43
Guba, E. G. (1981). Criteria for assessing the trustworthiness of naturalistic inquiries. Ectj, 29(2), 75-91. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02766777
Hadi, M. A., & José-Closs, S. (2016). Ensuring rigour and trustworthiness of qualitative research in clinical pharmacy. International journal of clinical pharmacy, 38, 641-646. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-015-0237-6
Hallett, R. E. (2013). 3 dangers of member checking. In The role of participants in education research (pp. 29-39). Routledge.
Harvey, L. (2015). Beyond member-checking: A dialogic approach to the research interview. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 38(1), 23-38. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1743727X.2014.914487
Heidegger, M. (2002). On time and being. University of Chicago Press.
Iivari, N. (2018). Using member checking in interpretive research practice: A hermeneutic analysis of informants’ interpretation of their organizational realities. Information Technology & People, 31(1), 111-133. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-07-2016-0168
Ihde, D. (1999). Expanding hermeneutics. In Hermeneutics and Science: Proceedings of the First Conference of the International Society for Hermeneutics and Science (pp. 345-351). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9293-2_28
Jonsen, K., & Jehn, K. A. (2009). Using triangulation to validate themes in qualitative studies. Qualitative research in organizations and management: an international journal, 4(2), 123-150. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/17465640910978391
Kakkori, L. (2009). Hermeneutics and phenomenology problems when applying hermeneutic phenomenological method in educational qualitative research. Paideusis, 18(2), 19-27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1072329ar
Kihn, L. A., & Ihantola, E. M. (2015). Approaches to validation and evaluation in qualitative studies of management accounting. Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, 12(3), 230-255. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/QRAM-03-2013-0012
Koelsch, L. E. (2013). Reconceptualizing the member check interview. International journal of qualitative methods, 12(1), 168-179. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/160940691301200105
Kutsyuruba, B., & McWatters, S. (2023). Hermeneutics. In Varieties of Qualitative Research Methods: Selected Contextual Perspectives (pp. 217-223). Cham: Springer International Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04394-9_35
Lindheim, T. (2022). Participant validation: A strategy to strengthen the trustworthiness of your study and address ethical concerns. In Researching values: Methodological approaches for understanding values work in organisations and leadership (pp. 225-239). Cham: Springer International Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90769-3_13
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0147-1767(85)90062-8
Nigar, N. (2020). Hermeneutic phenomenological narrative enquiry: A qualitative study design. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 10(1), 10-18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1001.02
Maxwell, J. A. (2013). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach (3rd ed.).Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
McCaffrey, G., Raffin-Bouchal, S., & Moules, N. J. (2012). Hermeneutics as research approach: A reappraisal. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 11(3), 214-229. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/160940691201100303
McConnell-Henry, T., Chapman, Y., & Francis, K. (2011). Member checking and Heideggerian phenomenology: A redundant component. Nurse researcher, 18(2). DOI: https://doi.org/10.7748/nr2011.01.18.2.28.c8282
Merriam, S. B. (2014). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Francisco, CA: Wiley & Son.
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2013). Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook. SAGE Publications, Incorporated.
Madill, A., & Sullivan, P. (2018). Mirrors, portraits, and member checking: Managing difficult moments of knowledge exchange in the social sciences. Qualitative Psychology, 5(3), 321. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000089
Morse, J. M. (2015). Critical analysis of strategies for determining rigor in qualitative inquiry. Qualitative health research, 25(9), 1212-1222. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732315588501
Morse, J. M., Barrett, M., Mayan, M., Olson, K., & Spiers, J. (2002). Verification strategies for establishing reliability and validity in qualitative research. International journal of qualitative methods, 1(2), 13-22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690200100202
Moser, A., & Korstjens, I. (2017). Series: Practical guidance to qualitative research. Part 1: Introduction. European Journal of General Practice, 23(1), 271-273. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13814788.2017.1375093
Paterson, M., & Higgs, J. (2005). Using hermeneutics as a qualitative research approach in professional practice. Qualitative Report, 10(2), 339-357.
Peck, B., & Mummery, J. (2018). Hermeneutic constructivism: An ontology for qualitative research. Qualitative health research, 28(3), 389-407. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732317706931
Pérez-Vargas, J. J., Nieto Bravo, J. A., & Santamaría Rodríguez, J. E. (2020). Hermeneutics and phenomenology in human and social sciences research. Civilizar Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, 20(38), 137-144. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22518/jour.ccsh/2020.1a10
Pyett, P. M. (2003). Validation of qualitative research in the “real world”. Qualitative health research, 13(8), 1170-1179. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732303255686
Ramsook, L. (2018). A methodological approach to hermeneutic phenomenology. International journal of humanities and social sciences, 10(1), 14-24.
Reiter, B. (2006). The Hermeneutic Foundations of Qualitative Research. Qualitative Methods, 4(2), 18.
Rennie, D. L. (2012). Qualitative research as methodical hermeneutics. Psychological methods, 17(3), 385-399. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029250
Roberge, J. (2011). What is critical hermeneutics? Thesis Eleven, 106(1), 5-22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0725513611411682
Shaw, J. A., & DeForge, R. T. (2014). Qualitative inquiry and the debate between hermeneutics and critical theory. Qualitative Health Research, 24(11), 1567-1580. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732314549028
Silverman, D. (2011). Interpreting qualitative data (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Sousa, D. (2014). Validation in qualitative research: General aspects and specificities of the descriptive phenomenological method. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 11(2), 211-227. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2013.853855
Slettebø, T. (2021). Participant validation: Exploring a contested tool in qualitative research. Qualitative Social Work, 20(5), 1223-1238. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325020968189
Stenfors, T., Kajamaa, A., & Bennett, D. (2020). How to… assess the quality of qualitative research. The clinical teacher, 17(6), 596-599. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.13242
Thirsk, L. M., & Clark, A. M. (2017). Using Qualitative Research for Complex Interventions: The Contributions of Hermeneutics. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16, 1-10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406917721068
Thiselton, A. C. (2009). Hermeneutics: an introduction. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.
Thomas, D. R. (2017). Feedback from research participants: are member checks useful in qualitative research?. Qualitative research in psychology, 14(1), 23-41. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2016.1219435
Turner, S., & Coen, S. E. (2008). Member checking in human geography: interpreting divergent understandings of performativity in a student space. Area, 40(2), 184-193. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4762.2008.00802.x
Tracy, S. J. (2013). Qualitative research methods: Collecting evidence, crafting analysis, communicating impact. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
Walsh, K. (1996). Philosophical hermeneutics and the project of Hans Georg Gadamer: Implications for nursing research. Nursing Inquiry, 3(4), 231-237. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1800.1996.tb00046.x
Warnke, G. (2013). Gadamer: Hermeneutics, tradition and reason. John Wiley & Sons.
Weis, D., & Willems, H. (2017). Aggregation, validation, and generalization of qualitative data-methodological and practical research strategies illustrated by the research process of an empirically based typology. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 51(2), 223-243. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-016-9372-4
Wilson, H. S., & Hutchinson, S. A. (1991). Triangulation of qualitative methods: Heideggerian hermeneutics and grounded theory. Qualitative health research, 1(2), 263-276. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/104973239100100206
Whitehead, L. (2004). Enhancing the quality of hermeneutic research: Decision trail. Journal of advanced nursing, 45(5), 512-518. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2648.2003.02934.x
Zairul, M. (2021). Can member check be verified in real time? Introducing ARC (asking, record, confirm) for member checking validation strategy in qualitative research. Engineering Journal, 25(1), 245-251. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4186/ej.2021.25.1.245
Zimmerman, J. (2015). Hermeneutics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Qualitative Inquiry in Education: Theory & Practice
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
